Editing Cat (section)

== Etymology and naming ==
The origin of the English word ''cat'', Old English ''catt'', is thought to be the Late Latin word ''cattus'', which was first used at the beginning of the 6th century. The Late Latin word may be derived from an unidentified African language. The Nubian word ''kaddîska'' 'wildcat' and Nobiin ''kadīs'' are possible sources or cognates.

The forms might also have derived from an ancient Germanic word that was absorbed into Latin and then into Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. The word may be derived from Germanic and Northern European languages, and ultimately be borrowed from Uralic, <abbr>cf.</abbr> Northern Sámi ''gáđfi'', 'female stoat', and Hungarian ''hölgy'', 'lady, female stoat'; from Proto-Uralic *''käďwä'', 'female (of a furred animal)'.

The English ''puss'', extended as ''pussy'' and ''pussycat'', is attested from the 16th century and may have been introduced from Dutch ''poes'' or from Low German ''puuskatte'', related to Swedish ''kattepus'', or Norwegian ''pus'', ''pusekatt''. Similar forms exist in Lithuanian ''puižė'' and Irish ''puisín'' or ''puiscín''. The etymology of this word is unknown, but it may have arisen from a sound used to attract a cat.

A male cat is called a ''tom'' or ''tomcat'' (or a ''gib'', if neutered). A female is called a ''queen'' (or sometimes a ''molly'', if spayed). A juvenile cat is referred to as a ''kitten''. In Early Modern English, the word ''kitten'' was interchangeable with the now-obsolete word ''catling''. A group of cats can be referred to as a ''clowder'', a ''glaring'', or a ''colony''.